Rebuild service partition using recovery media?

[RBob]

Problems with Rescue & Recovery led me to the discovery that my service partition is somewhat trashed.

I made a set of recovery media (a handful of CDs) [almost] immediately after I received my R51; is there a process by which I can re-build the service partition without damaging the "real" partition on the disk?

[carbon_unit]

I don't think you can do that.
The way the recovery cd's work is they remove all partitions, then they recreate the "Service Partition". Then you reboot and your computer is restored from the "Service Partition".
Maybe you can use the Rescue and Recovery application to recreate the "Service Partition".

[RBob]

I don't think you can do that.
The way the recovery cd's work is they remove all partitions, then they recreate the "Service Partition". Then you reboot and your computer is restored from the "Service Partition".
Maybe you can use the Rescue and Recovery application to recreate the "Service Partition".

Well, it was while trying to install and use the latest version of R&R I discovered the problems with the service partition. I was trying to create "rescue media" on a USB HD and it failed because it couldn't get the files it needed from the service partition.

I suppose I could use the old recovery media, re-initialize the system and then restore from a current backup.

Or, maybe just use PartitionMagic to get rid of the service partition and rely on conventional backup procedures.

Oh well ...

[Nebzar]

I recovered the lost service partition _and_ my current partitions with all their contents in this way:

1) made a full backup of the boot disk (no service partition, it was gone) with Acronis;

2) restored to factory the boot disk, using the recovery cds: this recreated the hidden service partition;

3) restored from the Acronis backup all the saved partitions, overwriting all disk _except_ the hidden partition.

All went through without a problem.

Regards
Neb

[iatacs19]

wait, the recovery disks created from windows cannot restore the laptop to factory condition if you delete the service partition?

I was planning on deleting all partitions and installing XP from scratch, but I was thinking in the future I might want the service partition.

So, with the disks I created can the laptop be fully restored to factory condition?

[carbon_unit]

So, with the disks I created can the laptop be fully restored to factory condition?

Correct. The restore discs will even work on an empty hard disk. They will restore to factory condition with the service partition intact.
I am doing this on a T42 with an empty hard disk right now as I type this.